Random musings on my vagabond existence in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me. Last weekend’s big snowstorm, and all the hullabaloo in the runup to it, put me in mind of the old days growing up in the 1960s and 1970s when foot-deep snowstorms were not the exception but the rule. Back then we went into winter expecting to get at least a couple big storms that would close roads and bring our rural Pennsylvania neighborhood to a standstill. It

Random musings on my vagabond existence in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me. Rachael and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in the Arctic. Okay, it wasn’t officially the Arctic, but it sure felt that way. We were up at our mountain house in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania where the temperature struggled to hit double-digits during the day and dipped down to near zero at night. We arrived just as a cold front was arrivi

It’s Christmas Eve, and the presents are wrapped and piled up beneath the tree. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, a few of them already stuffed with goodies and trinkets, most of which have probably been made in China. My credit card is full, too, of charges from weeks of spending on gifts. I always overspend my budget at Christmastime, and this year is no exception. The presents, the gift cards, the dinners out.  Spend, spend, spend. I feel blessed that though